Project: Spring Arrivals

Created by Maureen J. Baker, Helping Artist

Maureen J. Baker has been creating art all her life. In her youth she dabbled in painting, pottery, quilting, and silver and gold jewelry designs. In 1998 she began painting again and has enjoyed painting and color immensely. In 2003 Baker decided to embrace her creative spirit and dedicated her professional career to painting. Teaching locally, while raising her children, she has enjoyed her decision and never looked back. Now that her son is grown and her daughter is in college, Baker now is teaching regionally and nationally and designing full time.

Her design of spring daffodils uses a palette of lively Americana Acrylic and Dazzling Metallics colors as well as Paintable Texture to capture the excitement and delicacy of these sunny harbingers of a new season.

DecoArt supplies

Americana Acrylics

DAO11 Lemon Yellow

DAO43 Salem Blue

DAO63 Burnt Sienna

DAO64 Burnt Umber

DAO81 Colonial Green

DAO82 Evergreen

DAO89 Cool Neutral

DA138 Prussian Blue

DA164 Light Buttermilk

DA194 Marigold

DA209 Arbor Green

Dazzling Metallics

DA205 Copper

DA263 Splendid Gold

Paintable Textures

TX07 Stucco

Sealers / Finishes

DS60 Americana DuraClear Varnish, Matte

Stencils

TS08 Jacobean Floral Texture Stencil by Tracy Moreau

Additional supplies

Surface

8” x 10” stapled on back canvas

Supplies

1”, #14, #10, and #6 flat brushes

Good liner bush

Water container

Palette or plastic plate

Paper towels

Palette knife

Transfer paper

Instructions

Use palette knife to spread Stucco Paintable Texture over canvas. Spread stucco with flat of palette knife as you would spread butter on bread. (Do not use too much.) Let dry.

Position stencil in bottom left-hand quarter of canvas and spread thin layer of stucco over stencil. Lift the stencil off and, while wet, gently blend edge of stencil stucco into center part of canvas to create soft transition. Let dry.

Gently sand edge of canvas if there are rough areas from application of stucco.

Slip slap on background colors: Salem Blue and Light Buttermilk. (When you slip slap, you want to gently blend colors at edges, leaving some of two initial colors.) Keep paint wet and add more paint if you need it. (Metallic colors are added later as tints.) Let dry.

Transfer pattern. Basecoat leaves Arbor Green; flower petals, Light Buttermilk; cup of flowers, Marigold; and sheath (piece below flower attached to stem), Cool Neutral. Paint in direction that leaves and flowers grow. (This will help create texture and form of them.) These leaves are tubular and do not have distinct center vein so paint with flat brush up and down leaf. Cup is cylinder: paint with flat brush across cylinder. Petals are rounded triangles: start at outside edge and paint towards cup.

Separate leaves and start to form flowers: If needed, transfer pattern back on for detail. With flat brush, side-load Evergreen and separate leaves as shown below. (There are seven leaves and two stems.) Shade back leaves first. (Remember: form is created by darks and lights, shading, and highlights. What is behind is in shade; what is in front is in light, so shading is painted on back leaf.) Highlight leaves with float of Colonial Green.

Tint petals with flat brush side-loaded with Lemon Yellow. Start at outside edge and float down sides, then streak some Lemon Yellow from center towards cup. Highlight inside of cup of lower flower with side-load of Lemon Yellow.

Shade petals of flowers with flat brush side-loaded with Arbor Green. (You want to keep these floats transparent. Flowers are light and transparent; if you get too heavy with paint, they will not look good. You are better off repeating floats a couple of times.) Shade to separate petals. Let dry and then shade where petals meet cup. Upper flower has flip on one petal: shade against flip; keep float nice and transparent.

Tint tips of leaves with float of Lemon Yellow. (There is one leaf that turns and has float of Lemon Yellow on side.) Under sheath on stem, paint back-to -back float of Lemon Yellow. Repeat tint on tip of leaves with smaller flat brush and float Light Buttermilk to re-enforce highlight.

To detail, keep these shades and tints transparent. In lower flower, shade base of cup and two underneath petals where they meet cup with transparent Burnt Sienna. Around upper edge of cup first in back, then in front, float Burnt Sienna. (Keep this as accent color by keeping paint transparent.)

On upper flower, shade cup of flower on upper edge with transparent Burnt Sienna. (Petals on this flower have shade of Burnt Sienna where they meet cup.) Shade each petal individually and keep paint transparent.

Side-load flat brush with Lemon Yellow and re-enforce highlights and texture on cup and in petals of flowers.

Sheathing, piece below flower on stem, is shaded first with very transparent Prussian Blue and then re-enforced with transparent Burnt Umber. Highlight with Light Buttermilk

Dampen leaves and, with liner brush, paint some texture into leaves with very thin lines of Evergreen. (By dampening, texture lines will be soft.)

Side-load Copper into corner of #14 flat brush. (Do not use a lot of paint.) Softly paint hint of color in lower left quarter of background. Repeat this with Splendid Gold in upper right quarter of background.

Let dry for a couple of days and varnish with Americana DuraClear Matte Varnish.

Helpful hints

Remember to look at sample pictures and at your work as you are painting. Painting is about seeing and touching. Remember to read each step fully first so you can really understand process. Take your time and don’t be afraid of the paint…you can always go back a step to fix anything.